Boy In Pain
by AlwaysAgustD
Summary: Basically a Fen and Baldwin friendship Fanfic (because why not?). Baldwin finds Fen in a ditch, badly injured. He takes Fen back to his house where they connect.


**I sort of day-dreamed about this happening during ****school, so I decided to write it down and...here we are! ;) Hope you like it. **

Fen gasped for air. His chest felt heavy and every breath he took caused sharp daggers of pain to shoot up his side. He lied sprawled in a ditch, hard rocks digging into his back. Staring up at the dark clouds above him, he began to shiver. _Curse you Skull, _he thought weakly. Skull was the leader of the Raiders, who had absolutely no conscience or compassion. Yesterday, he had challenged Fen to a fight when he had mocked Skull's leadership skills. Fen, being the fierce person he was, accepted without thinking. This was the spot they had arranged to meet, but when Fen had arrived he was pummeled by at least fifteen Raiders, Skull included. He had tried his hardest to fight them off, but they quickly overwhelmed him, and beat him to the ground.

Now here he was, half unconscious, and lying in a ditch. No one was around, no one would probably help Fen even if they _were _around. Fen wasn't the most liked person in Blackwell after all. A trouble maker, a freak, a waste of space, a criminal, trash that needs to be cleaned out. _That's_what the people of Blackwell thought of him. He got insults like those every day.

Fen raised his shaking hand and felt the large bruise forming on his cheek. He subconsciously licked away some blood away from his mouth. _I can barely move, and it looks like it's about to rain. This is just great…_Sure enough a crack of thunder sounded in the clouds above Fen, triggering a stream of fat raindrops. They splashed vigorously against him, causing a chill to spread through his body. He trembled even harder with pain and cold.

"H-help…me…" He croaked. Digging his fingers into the ground, he attempted to roll over. Pain like fire immediately shot through him, making him choke. Blood flew from his mouth as he coughed.

"Hey-Hey you! Hold on I'm coming!" A voice yelled over the pounding rain. Fen reached out for-he didn't know what. He could hear feet sliding into the ditch, and scuffling noises to his left. A blurry figure stood over him. His rescuer knelt down, touching him with a surprisingly warm hand. "Can you hear me?" The panicked voice of the stranger said. Fen tried to speak, but nothing would come out. So, he twitched his head like a nod. "Okay…okay I'm going to get you out of here." Said his rescuer. They cupped one hand under Fen's bloody head and grabbed his arm with the other hand. Lifting him slowly into a supported sitting position, they drew him close to their chest. Fen felt aching pain all over, but the touch of the stranger was comforting.

"I'm going to try to lift you now," they breathed. "Tell me if I'm hurting you and I'll stop." And with unexpected strength, the figure heaved Fen into their arms. His head throbbed and dark spots floated in front of his eyes.

"Got…to stay…awake. Take me h-" Fen coughed. Half of him didn't want to be taken off to a random person's house, but the other half didn't want to go back to Kris's house in this state. Even though they were both soaked with rain, his rescuer's warmth calmed him. He blinked, maybe going with this person wouldn't be so bad…

Fen jerked awake. An image of Skull's smirking face popped into his minds-eye.

"You cheat!" he yelled. He inhaled quickly as a razor-sharp twinge stabbed at his side.

"Woah, woah, stay still. You're hurt badly, and there's no reason to scream." Fen turned his pounding head slowly. Sitting in a chair next to the couch Fen was curled up on, was a boy his age. He had messy ginger-blonde hair, and freckles covered his smiling cheeks. A strange, hot, feeling crept up Fen's cheeks. "I cleaned most of your wounds, but uh…you started um-"

"I started what?" Fen snapped, _no, no, too harsh! _He mentally punched himself. The last thing he wanted to do was upset his rescuer. The boy paused,

"You started crying I guess? So I stopped because I thought I was causing you more pain." A momentary silence fell between them, but then the boy grinned. "My name is Baldwin, what's yours?"

"Fen."

"Fen's a pretty weird name."

"Baldwin's not that normal either." Baldwin chuckled and stood up.

"Is there anything I can get you? Are you hungry?" he asked. Fen just then noticed how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten all day.

"Um, yeah, if you don't mind." Why was he being this polite? Baldwin left the room, leaving Fen alone. _Baldwin. _He thought. _Baldwin. Baldwin-such a weird name! Who even is he? Why'd he help me? He obviously doesn't know who I am…he would be treating me differently if he did. It's kind of nice though, being cared for-what am I thinking? I don't need care, I don't need people. _Fen struggled to sit up, ignoring his aching body. _Should I leave while he's gone getting food? _He sighed, something internal was holding him back. Why did he feel this way? What even was this feeling? He sat, pondering the situation. Before Fen could clear his mind, Baldwin returned with a steaming soup bowl and a pizza box. Placing the soup on Fen's lap, he plopped down next to him.

"I wasn't sure if you would prefer pizza, or soup, so I just brought you both!" Fen stared at the bowl,

"Thanks Baldwin." He needed to stop being polite _now._

"So why were you in a ditch covered in blood?" Baldwin asked, as if it was a perfectly normal question.

"I got in a fight," Fen scowled. "It wasn't a fair one either! The guy, Skull, that I was supposed to meet up with decided to play dirty and bring some of his friends. As you can see I uh…"

"Lost." Baldwin finished for him. Fen nodded, and quickly spooned the hot soup into his mouth. "Well good thing I found you." Fen peered at Baldwin's cheery face.

"Why were you out in the rain?" he said. Baldwin flushed slightly,

"Just walking. Blustery days like this relax me."

For a while Baldwin sat and watched Fen hungrily wolf down the soup and pizza. His expression made Fen feel uncomfortable. It was somewhere between pity and curiosity. Finally Baldwin spoke up,

"Do you want to watch a movie or something? Or just talk?" Fen opened his mouth to say, I just want to leave, but what came out was,

"We can talk." Baldwin beamed.

"Sure! I actually have a question for you. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. But, why-I mean, do you have many friends?" Fen looked away, not liking where this conversation was going.

"Why'd do you ask?"

"You are lonely, I can sense it. I can be your friend if you want."

Silence.

Fen wasn't sure how to respond. Baldwin-his friend? Baldwin _wanted _to be his friend?

"You don't even know me." He muttered. Baldwin nodded,

"You're right, I don't. But I want to. What do you say?" He stuck his hand out to Fen. Fen gazed at it, perplexed. His eyes then met Baldwin's, and he saw welcoming sincerity shining in them. Reaching over he grasped Baldwin's hand. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest.

"Okay."


End file.
